The disclosure relates generally to a material extraction tool for various components, such as those produced from metal by a laser sintering processes. More particularly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide structures, and program code for a material extraction tool, and methods for using such tools to remove unused material (e.g., residual powder or other granular materials) from a hollow interior of a component.
The pace of change and improvement in the realms of power generation, aviation, and other fields has accompanied extensive research for manufacturing components used in these fields. Conventional manufacture of metallic components generally includes milling or cutting away regions from a slab of metal before treating and modifying the cut metal to yield a part, which may have been simulated using computer models, e.g., in drafting software. Manufactured components which may be formed from metal can include, e.g., airfoil components for installation in a turbomachine such as an aircraft engine or power generation system. The development of additive manufacturing, also known in the art as “3D printing,” can reduce manufacturing costs by allowing such components to be formed more quickly, with unit-to-unit variations as appropriate. Among other advantages, additive manufacture can directly apply computer-generated models to a manufacturing process while relying on less expensive equipment and/or raw materials.
Additive manufacturing or similar techniques can allow a component to be formed from a reserve of fine metal powder positioned on a build plate, which is processed by an electron beam or laser (e.g., using heat treatments such as sintering) to form a component or sub-component. Additive manufacturing equipment can also form components, e.g., by using three-dimensional models generated with software included within and/or external to the manufacturing equipment. Some devices fabricated via additive manufacture can be formed initially as several distinct components at respective processing stages before being assembled in a subsequent process. One challenge associated with additive manufacturing includes treating the components to remove unused materials, e.g., breakable supports, intermediate connectors and temporary coupling components, and/or other forms of unused material. Some designs may address these concerns by including groups of openings and/or passageways from which such components may be removed, e.g., by gravity and/or operation of external tools. However, such unused materials may be inaccessible or difficult to remove from other components with distinct physical characteristics, e.g., sealed interior spaces and/or connections to other components. The presence of unremoved unused materials in an additively manufactured component may interfere with operation and/or reduce manufacturing efficiency in some cases.